Operation: Calm Dragon
by Sicarius39
Summary: Hunter Team has been dispatched to find a terrorist who launched a virus attack from Tokonosu City to the world. Their secondary objective is to bring survivors to the residence of a local politician, Souichiro Takagi, who has established a safe haven. They land on Fujumi Academy and has to make their way across an infested city. Besides each other, silence is their only ally.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

A blue light lit up the room with gruesome pictures of the recent events. The blue light came from the projector, which had the Lieutenant Colonel Scott Mitchell standing looking at the pictures, arms crossed. The team call-signed _Hunter_ entered the room and stood, looking at the pictures.

John Kozak, Robert Bonifalco, – referred to as "Pepper" by his squad-mates - James Grant Ellison - call-signed "30K," - and Team Leader Cedric Ferguson, otherwise known as "Ghost Lead" all stood at the back of the room, awaiting their instructions. The older male stood in front, 30" at his side, and Pepper and Kozak at the back. Ellison broke the ice, "What are we lookin' at, sir?" Mitchell said without turning around, "Looks to be the result of some kind of bio-chemical weapon." He turned, meeting the gaze of the soldiers in front of him. "We don't know," Horrible images flashed on-screen. People eating other people, flesh being ripped from bones. "What the hell is this?" Kozak questioned. "Like I said, we don't know. People are going insane, at least that's what we believe… According to reports, it originated in Japan and is slowly making its way across the world. The President and other officials of the US are being kept safe in bunkers. The 'normal' army can handle them. Your job is…" He picked up a wireless mouse from a table and clicked, "to take down this biological terrorist, as well as any people along the way. Society might have gone to hell over there, but people need order, and we're going to provide it. Furthermore, the people affected by this virus are completely gone from heat signatures, which means they have no blood flow which means…" He shrugged his shoulders, they're dead." 30K saw a window of silence and cut in, "You expect us to go around there with zombies?"

Mitchell confirmed, "Essentially, that's what they are." Ghost Lead questioned, "With all due respect, sir, why us? The Japanese _do_ have a military, correct?" The Lieutenant Colonel answered, "Yes, but most of their concern is over riot control right now. There is chaos down there. Also, they seem to be attracted by noise. The formal military are protecting high ranking leaders of the nation, same as us." He clicked again on the mouse, dragging it over to a video file. "This was recovered from the overhead satellite, in Tokonosu City, where you're headed." Swarms of zombies overrun populated places. Malls, schools, bars were all crawling with the undead. "They seem to be attracted by noise."

He then switched to another video, showing thermographic imaging of the virus in gas form. "This is the virus in gas form. According to this, it looks like it started at the East end of the city jus a few hours ago. There are survivors at the house of a politician, named Takagi."

He then turned back to the team, placing his hands on his hips, "You are the quietest team I know. Your primary objective is to take down this biological terrorist and maybe we can force them to manufacture a cure. However, if you come across any survivors, you bring them to Takagi's house. We'll be dropping supplies there by plane. Helicopter might be noisy."

Ghost Lead placed his hands on the table in front of him, "Understood." Pepper inquired, "Is there any way we can protect ourselves from this thing? If it spread in gas-form, then we have little to defend against it." Mitchell responded, "The chemical agent did indeed spread in gas form; however, it's gone now. We don't really know where it went. Environmentalists are saying it may have been absorbed by the atmosphere." Silence filled the room, "Any questions?" Mitchell asked.

Kozak stepped forward, "There is one more problem we didn't consider."

"And that is?"

"Language barriers."

30K stepped in, "Not a problem!" Pepper joked, "What? You got an app on your phone that's going to help us?" The heavy-gunner = scoffed, "No!"

Pepper critiqued, "Then what _is_ your plan?" 30K surprised everyone and said, "I can speak Japanese." An awkward silence filled the room. "You serious?" The team leader found himself asking. 30 replied, "Yes." He chuckled lightly, "Kozak ain't the only one who's bilingual." They all chuckled. Mitchell finalized, "Good. Everyone gear up. You've got quite the flight ahead."

Everyone was loaded up in the helicopter. All were wearing grey and urban camouflage body armour and cargo pants. Ghost Lead and Kozak were wearing identical uniforms while 30K was wearing his signature baseball cap and Pepper was wearing his grey toque. All wore face masks and sunglasses that had the left lens lit up with Heads-Up-Display, which objective locations showed in real-time on the environment around them. They all knew their mission was a rather grim one. Dead people eating the living, and those that did survive did not want to. People were holding up in places, being as quiet as they could be. The dead hunt, the living flee. Luckily, the Ghosts were on the way. "Ready for lift off." With that the helicopter was in the air and on the way.

Kozak had his suppressed single shot assault rifle the 417 with a reflex sight atop it. Along with a silenced 45T as side-arm. The equipment they all carried was a sensor that detected movement, combined with their HUD, allowed for them to see through walls as wells as other obstacles. Another 'grenade' he had was a noisemaker for distracting the undead. And, of course, they were all armed with their cloaking devices.

Pepper had suppressed Vector submachine gun for close-encounters and an suppressed M110 sniper rifle for long-ranges.

30K had the Stoner 96, a light machine gun with a red dot sight and a bipod, and a suppressed Goblin with a Tac scope, allowing for shorter-ranged combat.

Ghost Lead had his supressed ACR for longer-ranged pick-offs as well as a suppressed Vector for close-quarters recon and stealth.

They would be landing near Fujimi academy and begin looking for survivors, about nine hundred metres away from the Takagi residence. Before that, they would have to refuel on a water base in the North Pacific Ocean and then get there. It was going to be a long flight.


	2. Search and Rescue

**Chapter 1 – Search & Rescue **

They touched down on top of the school, they would have landed outside, but the streets were too hot for an LZ. The helicopter attracted much of the undeads' attention, some of them were getting to their feet, others were hanging off the side. One approached, its intestines hanging out of its stomach. Kozak said nothing as he raised his rifle and aimed at the head. He fired a single shot, piercing its brain and sending onto the floor. The thud it made on the floor drew the attention of nearby undead, as if the helicopter leaving did not already. Kozak noticed the roof was covered in water, but the sky was clear, and it had not rained here for at least a week. "Move!" Ghost Lead whispered loudly. All moved towards the roof access. They all got inside and shut the door. Without thinking, they all activated their cloaks and looked down the staircase. They had become accustomed to each other, having worked together on other ops in recent year. Ghost Lead gave the signal that they move, so, they obliged, Kozak taking point, Ghost Lead covering their six. As they moved down the steps, groaning began to fill their ears. Reaching the bottom, four zombies were in the hallway in front of them, Kozak held his hand up balled in a fist over his left shoulder, then threw his hand forward holding the first two fingers up. "Sync Shot. On my mark." All aimed their weapons and locked on to targets. Once they were satisfied with their targets, Kozak whispered, "Fire." They shot, sending the undead to the floor. The Ghosts made their way down the hall, which only had a single door at the end of it. Kozak, still on point, pushed to door open, leading to a hallway filled with nothing moving. They were all dead. They looked to have their heads beaten in. "Blunt weapons, by the looks of it," Ghost Lead observed, "Some of the student survivors are fighting back."

Pepper looked at the mangled bodies of students and teachers alike as they littered the hallway, "Damn shame." Ghost Lead finalized, "Agreed. We need to move." They got moving when they heard shuffling down the hall. " _Hunter_ , this is _Overlord_ , any survivors yet?" Ghost Lead responded,

"None yet _Overlord_ , any heat signatures in the area?"

"Scans indicate that there are people on the second floor, West side, head there."

"Copy, _Overlord_. _Hunter_ out."

They made eye contact and nodded with each other, "To the second floor, move quietly."

They traversed the hallway, stepping over bodies and pools of blood. A door was left open, "Check that room. Form up." Hunter team scurried to the side of the door and readied their weapons. "Slowly… Go." The leader said. Kozak snuck in, the other following behind. Nothing was here, scattered chairs and desks, a few dead bodies, but nothing of survivors or even undead. "Clear." Kozak said, lowering his weapon, Ghost Lead ordered, "Let's move team."

All made their way to the stairwell at the end of the hall and began traversing down it. Reaching the second floor, they were about to open the double doors when they heard a scream, it sounded like it came from a girl. "Move!" Ghost Lead said, but the team did not need to be told, they were already underway. Pepper and Ghost Lead threw open the door and Kozak and 30K stepped through, weapons raised. They spotted a pair sprinting down the hall. One boy, one girl, both wearing the uniform of the school. The boy wore a black jacket over a simple red shirt; the zipper was down. His pants were of the same colour and material as his jacket. On his feet were a pair of simple running shoes. His head was a mess of brown hair, simple enough to fit the average man. He wielded a metal baseball bat.

The girls outfit was much more elaborate. She wore a sailor-type school uniform, the green cloth around her neck, over her shoulders which held a white shirt. A green skirt sat on her hips, the rest of her legs being covered by black thigh-highs. Simple shoes also adorned her feet. Atop her head was brown hair that flowed down her back but was now in the air as they were running. She wielded a broken mop handle, covered in blood.

"Hey!" Kozak heard himself yell. He quickly glanced around him to make sure there were no nearby zombies. There were none. The two students turned around and were surprised to see soldiers. They mumbled to each other, they managed to make out the word 'Tokubetsu sagyō,' whatever that meant. They all turned to 30K as they made their way to them. "What are they saying?" Pepper asked, earning the response from 30, "They're saying 'special ops.'"

As they approached 30K began speaking in Japanese, telling them that they were here to help get survivors out and to a safe place. The girl noticed the American flags on the soldiers' shoulders, "You're American?" the Ghosts looked at each other. "Yes, ma'am, we are."

"Doesn't Japan have its own self defense force."

"Yes, however, they are focused on keeping the undead out of places. We are more offensive measures, which, in this event, means that we are searching for survivors and taking them to a safe place from here."

"I see."

30K was quite satisfied with himself in that he was able to speak to them in Japanese, however, still as surprised as anyone else that the girl could speak English so well. The boy could also speak English apparently, as he said, "Let's go! People are in trouble." And began running again. Ghost Lead took point, "Stay behind us, we'll handle it." The Ghosts led the charge, rounding another corner leading to a hallway which had four figures in it along with a horde of the undead.

The first one all of them saw was a boy with a crazed smile on his face with a nail gun, attached to a makeshift stock. He was shooting with it, landing the shots in the zombies' heads. He had the same uniform as the other boy. His hair was longer, ending at about his neck and wore glasses on his face. He was also chubbier in the stomach area. The girl with him was shouting orders at him, telling him what to do and where to shoot. She had the same uniform as the other girl, her pink hair was tied on two long pony-tails, ending at her lower back. The other two consisted of a student and a teacher. The student had long purple hair and, again, the same uniform, except the green skirt was replaced with a more traditional and longer plain green skirt, the side ripped, allowing for more movement. It seemed the same was done to the other woman as her black skirt was ripped also. The teacher's head was flowing with blonde hair, leading down her back, but her face was that of a clueless mouse. It was as if she had no idea what was going on. Her simple white shirt was buttoned down a few too many.

The girl was on the ground, her back against the trophy case. The boy turned to shoot the nail gun, but it was empty. The zombies moved closer.

"Contact!" Ghost Lead yelled as the large number of zombies in the hallway noticed them. There were about eleven of them. Pepper ran at the one closest to the girl, the rest of the Ghosts began to shoot at the ones that were going for the pair in the room. Through all the dodging, Pepper ended up behind the zombie that was going to get the girl. Shooting at the head, the zombie fell, splattering and bleeding onto the teenager. It was messy, but she was safe.

While the Ghosts opened fire, the girl and the boy sprung into action, along with the girl who was armed with a wooden sword. "Wait!" Kozak said to them, but to no avail as they were already smashing their weapons at the zombies' heads. The same for the girl using a kendo sword. The students and the Ghosts proceeded to clear the hallway. The kendo wielder shouted something in Japanese, 30K translated, saying she said that they would clear their side of the hallway, while they clear theirs. The Ghosts were shooting well-placed shots, the students swung their weapons wildly, but well enough to kill the remainder of the zombies.

"Clear." All Ghosts said, as they turned to look at the students and teacher. The girl with the mop handle went over to the pink-haired girl and asked if she was alright. Then all the Ghosts heard the name 'Takagi' in there. Ghost Lead bumped 30K, "What'd they say?" He asked, the other soldier translated, "She might be Takagi's daughter or something."

All the students began introducing themselves. The girl with purple hair was Saeko Busujima, the first boy they met was Takashi Komuro, the girl with the mop handle was Rei Miyamoto, the nail-gun user was Kohta Hirano. The pink-haired girl was, apparently, Saya Takagi. Takashi looked at the soldiers, "And you are?" Kozak explained, "We'll explain when we're safe. For now we need to move."

Takagi stood up and began shouting something, 30K leaned over to Ghost Lead, "She says she's a genius, saying everyone else is stupid." Ghost Lead sighed. Hirano approached Pepper and began speaking English. "Whoa~! That's a Vector submachine gun!"

"Yeah."

"That's _military_ grade!"

"We _are_ the military."

"Can I hold it?"

"No. My hands only."

"What about your sniper rifle?" He gasped, "Is that an M110!?"

Pepper held up his left hand to put the conversation on hold. "Alright - How many of you in here can speak English?" Everyone in the room began saying that they could, simultaneously demonstrating it by doing so in English. Takashi informed, "Well, it's like a second language here." All nodded and agreed except Takagi, she stared at herself in the mirror.

"She okay?" Kozak asked 30K as he noticed the girl now looked quite shaken. 30 approached but she began crying, which would attract more zombies. The girl with purple hair began comforting her. Ghost Lead instructed, "We need to find a place to hold up." Rei replied, "We'll try the Staff Room." Ghost Lead agreed, "Let's go then. Everyone behind us, direct as we move. Kozak, cover the six." Kozak nodded, "Yes, sir." Everyone began the make their way through the school.


	3. Escape

**Chapter 2 – Escape**

The Staff Room was just in front of them now. The door was open slightly, Ghost Lead was directly at the side of it, behind him, 30K, Pepper, and then the students. Kozak was the last one. The door sat at the end of a wall, which stood next to a hallway. "Pepper, scout the hallway, 30, with me. We'll clear the room." Pepper and 30K moved, the latter to the other side of the door frame, and the former to the corner. "Three down the hallway, walking this way." The leader said, "Leave them. Conserve ammo." As they moved in to clear the room. It was empty, lined with desks, the sunset orange peeking through the blinds. On the desks were papers, files, pens, and pencils. "Clear." 30K and Ghost Lead said. The rest poured in.

They all relaxed, as now they found a safe place to hold up for a while. " _Overlord_ , this is _Hunter_ , do you have a path for us to follow to get to Takagi's house?" This caught the attention of the girl. "What do you mean? My house?" Their ear pieces were filled with the voice of their Lieutenant Colonel, "Standby, we're mapping it out, then we'll send it to your Heads-up Display."

Saya questioned, "What's at my house?"

"It seems your family has set up a perimeter there to keep the undead out. We have been instructed that if we find survivors, we send them there."

"Alright. Good. I'm glad they're safe."

Silence filled the room again. Then the Ghosts' comms rang, " _Hunter_ , there seems to be roadblocks and crowds blocking the way. If you want to get there, you may have to take the side streets. Vehicles make too much noise to send down and we don't want to endanger the people in the Takagi residence with a helicopter."

"Copy that. We'll find a way out of here and get there. _Hunter_ out."

Kozak was leaning on a desk, Pepper on another, 30K was standing next to Ghost Lead, also standing up. Rei was looking at the TV, it was in Japanese, but the Ghosts understood from the footage that it was chaos out there. She walked over, standing next to Takashi and began talking about how today started out so normal then turned for the worst. She asked her friend, "You think everything is going to be okay?" Takagi cut in, "Keep dreaming." Takashi critiqued,

"You really have to say it like that?"

"This is a pandemic, what am I supposed to say." The pink-haired girl bluntly stated. The nurse asked.

"A pandemic?"

"When an infectious disease spreads?"

They then began explaining that throughout history, there were many diseases that 'balanced' societies and populations. The Black Plague was an example. They then began theorizing that the undead may not be able to function in the winter. Ghost Lead cut in on the conversation. "Apologies, people, we need to get moving." Everyone picked up their weapons and began theorizing for a way out. Rei asked, "How do we get out?" prompting Takagi to inform "The front door is the closest to the parking lot."

The Ghosts formed up at the door they had entered and used the X-ray vision on their googles to see through the walls. Three blue silhouettes were visible in the hallway, "I count three." 30K said. "Alright. Move slowly, shoot them at the same time and they drop without a problem."

Pepper turned to the group of survivors. "We take point, got it? We do this slowly, no one gets hurt." They nodded and agreed. Ghost Lead pushed open the door and aimed at the first one, closest to the door. 30K, sitting at the other side of the doorway, aimed at the next one, just two metres left of the previous. The final one was in the scope of Kozak, five metres down the hallway from their current position. "Say when." Pepper said. All the Ghosts awaited the command from their leader. "Fire!" He whispered, and all targets were down.

They continued down the hall, not attracting any attention. The teenagers and the nurse did not participate. If an undead approached them, the Ghosts would put them down. Luckily, there were none in their direct path, so they were able to conserve ammunition. They made it to a spiraling staircase that led to the ground level. To get to the lower level, they would have to go down that flight of stairs to their right and make it across the walkway at the bottom of those stairs and then the rest of the staircase spiralled downward.

"Takuzo!" They heard. Looking down, they saw five survivors, all students, three male, two female. The one in front held a baseball bat and the one to his right was holding a two pronged pole that looked to be broken off of something to be a makeshift weapon. There were five zombies headed towards them. Three on the staircase and two closer to them. "Pepper, cover fire. The rest with me." Ghost Lead instructed and began walking. The teenagers began walking with them, only to be denied by the team leader. "You stay here." He ordered without stopping. Kozak, 30K, and Ghost Lead were all on the lower level. They put bullets into the heads of three in the walkway and Pepper shot the two on the students' platform. They reached the survivors, and everyone made their way down. 30K went up to them and asked if they were alright in Japanese. They nodded and told him that they were alright. There was another coming from the bottom of the stairs and was dispatched by Rei. Kozak looked up to the walkway they came from, then back at the girl. "… When did…?" She placed the broken mop on her shoulder. "I jumped down!" She said with a smirk. Kozak was still confused but decided he had bigger problems to worry about. Saeko stepped in front of the group, "Has anyone in your group been bitten?" she asked. They hurriedly replied, "No!" 30K held his index finger to his mouth and explained, "They react to sound. Keep quiet. We're leaving, and you're coming with us." He told them. They nodded and joined them down the stairs.

At the bottom of the spiral staircase, there were double doors leading to the front of the school, approximately fifty metres away from the parking lot. They stayed at the top of the steps, giving them a view of the entire lobby before them. Everyone crouched down caught their breath. "If we move quickly, we might be able to get past them without attracting their attention." Ghost Lead proposed. "Why are we hiding?" Takagi asked, "It's not like they can see us, they can only hear." Takashi critiqued while still looking at the undead below, "You want to test that, Takagi?" She pursed her lips and looked down. Saeko kept her focus on the problem at hand, "It would be useful to validify Takagi's theory." The Ghosts looked at each other, then to the children in front of them. Kozak inhaled sharply, "I'll do it." Quiet mumbles spread through the group and Ghost Lead approached his comrade, "You sure." Kozak nodded. "Alright," Ghost Lead looked around to his other squad-mates and whispered, "Cover him. Move!"

Kozak descended the stairs and reached ground level. He moved to the centre, his 417 at the ready. The undead simply moved past him and wandered through the halls. One approached him but Kozak soundlessly sidestepped and it kept its course. They could not see him. As long as they kept quiet, they were safe. Before they came down, however, he would need to clear the lobby. He picked up a bloodied shoe and tossed it across the room. The undead began to clear out and make a small path for the survivors. Kozak turned around and slowly motioned them to come down. He went to the door and held it open. As they filed through a noise rang out from behind them. They turned to see the boy with the pole, eyes widened, begin to panic as the noise carried itself through the school.

Ghost Lead inhaled sharply and ordered the survivors as well as the Ghosts, "Move! To the bus!" With that, everyone took off. In front of them, there was a bridge, but it was littered with undead, there was no way without going through them. "Silencers. Weapons free." Ghost Lead ordered. With well placed shots in the zombies' foreheads, many were down, but many more were coming. "Form up!" Pepper said. The squad formed around the group of survivors in a diamond formation and began to slowly move across the bridge. Kozak was on point, Pepper was on the right, 30K on the left, and Ghost Lead bringing up the rear. Kozak saw a flight of stairs leading down to the courtyard. "Pick up the pace." Ghost Lead said. More zombies were coming at them from the front, three of them. Kozak shot them and they were down, the blood pooling at their heads. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that his comrades were doing the same. They reached the stairs and descended. From their left, two zombies came at them, 30K eliminated them and had to reload. As he did, Takuzo charged out of the group to the left of 30 and began swinging wildly. "Get back in the group!" He ordered. As he did, more undead began to surround the boy. 30K shot one but found one to his right, too close for comfort and had to twist his body to shoot that one. When he looked back to Takuzo, he saw that three more zombies had begun biting him, his screams and cries filling the courtyard. 30K yelled to his squad-mates, "We got one dow- Shit!" Takuzo's girlfriend ran out of the group and was grabbed by 30K, "Stay!" He ordered. "I have to-" She sobbed and simply shook her head. She threw herself onto the undead on her boyfriend and gave in to death. 30K cursed, "Damn it. _Damn_ it!" He rejoined the group and began shooting the one's closest to them. "Two survivors are down. I repeat two are down." He notified. The Ghosts pressed on, "To the bus." Their leader said.

They finally reached the bus and filed in, the Ghosts covering them from the entrance of the bus. "Everyone in?" Ghost Lead asked. Pepper answered, "We got more on the way." They looked and saw a man and six students running towards the bus. The teacher stopped and began directing the students with his arms. His mouth was moving, but over the engine of the bus, it was hard to hear anything. "Copy that, wait for them." Ghost Lead said. One student was running with a few books and loose papers and tripped, sending himself forward and his belongings everywhere. He landed at the teacher's leg and grabbed onto it with his left hand. The Ghosts could not hear, but he probably said, "Help me." Then Kozak saw something that angered him. The teacher rose his foot and brought it down onto the kid's head. "What the hell?!" Kozak said. He looked at his squad-mates, only to see them shooting the approaching zombies. The teacher said something to the student on the floor and began running to the bus. Kozak sped off to the kid. "Going to get the kid! Cover me!" he informed. The teacher passed him and still ran towards the bus. The student was slowly getting surrounded as he gripped his bloodied face. Kozak pointed his weapon at the zombies surrounding him and shot the three on the left, then the two on the right. He slung his rifle onto his back and drew his sidearm. He put his left hand under the student's right armpit and hoisted him up and began pulling his towards the bus. "Come on!" he said to him. The others were already in the bus, including the Ghosts. Pepper was providing cover fire from a window in the bus. The boy used his right foot and fell towards the ground, but Kozak held him up. He said something in Japanese and pointed to his foot. His ankle was sprained. Kozak nodded and kept dragging him, he was beginning to feel tired. They still had about ten metres to go. "You can do it, kid!" Kozak said to him. Their breathing had become short and the boy started to slow down. He fell while still clinging onto the soldier's vest. "Up, up! Come on!" He began to climb back up, but a zombie grabbed him and pulled him down. Kozak aimed his weapon at the zombie and shot it in the head. He grabbed the boy but the collar and picked him up. Pepper kept shooting at some of the zombies approaching from Kozak's right but stopped to reload. The engineer picked the student up again and let him put his arm around him. "Come on! You got this!" More zombies approached them, To the right were two, which Kozak shit with ease. He heard groaning and felt the student on his arm become heavy. He looked to find a zombie biting into his neck. His eyes widened, and he dropped the boy, who was dead before he hit to ground. "Shit!" Kozak said as he stumbled towards the bus. He turned on his heel and sprinted to the vehicle. He jumped in and the doors closed. "Drive!" He yelled to the nurse, who was in the driver's seat. Pepper pulled his rifle and the wheels of the bus screeched against the asphalt as they began to move. Several zombies had become roadkill on the way to the main gates of the school. Soon enough they were off school grounds and speeding down the cherry blossom-dotted dirt road.

Everyone slumped back in their seats and placed their weapons at their sides. The teacher from earlier approached Saeko in her seat and said to her, "Thank you for saving us. Are you the leader, Busujima?" She explained, "We are without one-" She was cut off when Kozak marched up to the teacher, "Can I talk to you for a minute?" The teacher jumped back at his threatening tone, but then regained his composure and smiled,

"My friend, if you want to say something to me, I would like you to do it in front of my students. Koichi Shido." He extended his hand for the soldier to shake it. Kozak simply looked at his hand then, around the room to see the rest of the students looking at him.

"Very well. You left a student of yours to die. Kicked him in the face and ran off. Why?"

"He was weak-"

"He was _innocent_." Kozak slowly stepped towards the teacher, his weapon still in his hands.

"W-well, the strong are meant to survive. That's the kind of world this is. You're a military man, you should know that."

"Yes, I am, and what I know is that the strong are meant to protect the weak."

"There is no way he would have contributed to the group's surviv-" Kozak took another step towards Shido.

"It doesn't matter. He had a family and right now they're probably wondering if he is going to come home." He stopped in front of him and raised his voice for the rest of the bus to hear. "I don't know if anyone else saw, but you deliberately kicked him in the face and left him the die." The soldier said, inches away from him. He could practically smell the fear.

"At ease, soldier." Kozak heard behind him. He turned and saw Ghost Lead. He nodded and said, "Understood, Captain." As he walked past him and went back to his seat.

Attention in the bus shifted to the leader of the Ghosts in front of the teacher. He raised his voice and informed, "We have been sent by the American government to assist in evacuating citizens in this city. We're not going to lie to you people, we have reason to believe that the person responsible for it is in this country. There is a safe haven at the Takagi residence roughly nine hundred metres from our location. We will get you all there and continue with our mission. Any questions?" No one raised a hand, nor spoke out. "We'll be in the front."


	4. Separated

**Chapter 3 - Separated**

The Ghosts sat in front and decided to sit down a rest a little bit. As they drove through the streets, the undead roamed the roads. In the distance, fires could be seen in the distance, black smoke leaking into the dead orange sky. The sun was setting and people around the city had begun to make places of refuge. Small shops, homes, schools, shopping centres; everywhere had to be barricaded to keep people safe.

As they rode in the silence, a voice rang out from behind them. "We'll never make it if we keep going!" The Ghosts turned, their blue lights on their goggles becoming visible to the people behind them. In the central aisle, was a boy with blonde hair, of a thin build and wearing the school uniform. He continued his rant. "Why should we listen to you guys?! We could have just hidden in the school!" Pepper stood up, "We were told to take any survivors to the Takagi residence. We are doing that. If you have a problem with that, you can walk to the nearest safe place." Nervousness found itself on the boy's face as Pepper stood his ground, staring at him. The school nurse slammed on the brakes and turned around. "I can't focus if you're all yelling!" Pepper sighed and looked at the student in front of him.

"Make your choice, kid." He said. The boy walked back to his seat and made no further comments. Pepper turned back around as well. "And this is why I believe we need a strong leader!" They turned around to find Shido. 30K let out a long and heavy sigh. He turned around, "Hey, take a chill pill, teach." The teacher ignored him and continued his speech in Japanese. Whatever he said, it was enough to earn an applause from the students. 30K got up and began speaking in Japanese as well, trying to calm them down, if the rest of the soldiers had to guess. Ghost Lead approached his comrade. "What did he say?" 30 turned around, "He said that a couple of foreigners shouldn't be in charge." Shido turned towards the soldiers and spoke. 30K sighed and warned his team leader, "He says he just made himself leader by majority vote."

Ghost Lead shook his head and approached the teacher. "Sir, you need to stop this at once. If we are going to make it to Takagi's, we all need to cooperate with one another." Shido had a mischievous grin on his face. "Well, we don't want to go there. We can manage on our own! We are _strong_." The rest of the students began to clap louder. Ghost Lead switched his safety off his weapon and took an intimidating step towards the teacher, "Sir. If you are jeopardizing the mission – and the lives of these children – I am authorized to-" he was interrupted by the sound of the bus doors opening. Rei jumped out. "Rei!" Takashi called out to her as her feet landed on the ground outside. "Get back in the truck!" He continued. Pepper jumped out after her, "It's dangerous," he reasoned. "Come back here!" She turned around to Pepper and informed, "There's no way in hell I am going to be anywhere near him!" Shido placed his hand on his forehead, "Well, we'll just have to split, then."

Takashi bit back, "What's that supposed to mean?!" He jumped out after Rei as well. He caught up to her and grabbed her arm. Pepper was aiming his rifle in the immediate area. "We don't know where is safe and where isn't. We need to go back." They stopped in front of a tunnel.

"No! I'm not going back." She shouted. Pepper shook his head.

"Swallow your pride a little. What'd he do to you anyway?"

"He…" she trailed off when their heard a loud noise coming from the road in front of them.

A bus, filled with undead, came violently crashing into the front of the tunnel. Fire spread across the bus and blood pooled at the bottom. Soon enough fire-covered zombies began crashing through the windows of the toppled bus and began shuffling towards Saeko, who ran out of the bus to see if the other members of their group are alright. Pepper's ear piece came to life. "You and the kids alright, Pepper?" Kozak asked.

"Yeah, we're fine. We're going to need a rendezvous point for later." Pepper said into his communicator as he slowly walked further into the tunnel, keeping his weapon aimed at the entrance. Takashi had begun yelling over the flames, "The East Police Station!" It seems they had their rendezvous point. "You get that? East Police Station." Pepper informed, "Copy that, East Police Station. Meet you there. If plans change, contact us."

"Got it. Don't let Shido go on his little power trip. If he does, put him in his place." The sniper warned. "Yeah, we'll do what we can. Stay safe, man." Kozak said.

Pepper turned to the two students he was with. "We should-" creaking interrupted him, and the fire was spreading to the engine. "Move!" He yelled. The three of them sprinted towards the end of the tunnel just in time for a fiery explosion to send them out the rest of the way. Hitting the ground, the three of them coughed and moved away from the exit to avoid smoke inhalation. They regained their breaths. "You guys okay?" Pepper asked. The girl looked up at him and informed, "Yeah, we're fine. Nothing broken… Takashi?" The boy wiped his mouth and met Pepper's eyes. "I'm fine." He said. Pepper pulled up a holographic map from his off-sat on his left forearm, "We should get moving." He pointed to a spot on it. "The East Police Station should be there." Takashi and Rei looked to where he was pointing to find nothing. "What are you talking about?" The sniper looked at them and then back to the map. "There." He pointed again. Takashi expressed his concern for the soldier's sanity, " _What_?" Pepper looked at the map and then he realized that they could not see it. "Oh." He said, as he allowed his arm to hold his rifle again. "It's a holographic map. You would need these to see it." He said, gesturing to his glasses. Pepper shrugged and chuckled, "Force of habit. Too much time in the field with the other soldiers."

Takashi and Rei chuckled. "We should get moving," the boy said. "Oh," he said turning around, "Which one are you again?" Pepper straightened himself, "You guys can call me Pepper. Let's go."

They walked up to a staircase across from the tunnel's exit and heard shuffling. Pepper pointed his rifle upward and saw a zombie with a white motorcycle helmet stumbling towards them. "Heads up." He said as he sidestepped with the students, his arm stretched to keep them behind him, and allowed it to fall down the stairs. It landed with a thud and squirmed on the ground. "Up the stairs."

They got up to see a clear sidewalk and road. Vehicles were abandoned by their owners who ran for their lives. "Strange. That explosion was loud, you'd think the zombies would be swarming." Rei exhaled, "Let's just be glad they aren't." They walked in silence from there on out. Pepper had drawn his suppressed Vector and put the sniper on his back. They walked a few metres and Takashi said, "Hang on. That guys back there had a motorcycle helmet on. What if his bike is somewhere around here?" Pepper activated his x-ray vision and scanned the area. "You were right." He pointed to a hill that dipped to the right of the sidewalk. "There's a bike there on the grass."

The soldier and the survivors went over and pulled it up onto the sidewalk. It was a simple motorcycle with an orange paint job. Pepper opened the gas tank and saw that there was some gas. This would be useful in getting to the Police Station. "Okay, this is great and all, but there are three of us…" He looked at the couple and nodded, "I'll find my own. Don't leave without me." Pepper jogged in the other direction and began his search for his own motorcycle.

After searching for about ten minutes – and running back to check on them – Pepper was about to give up and look for a car instead, but he found a small motorized scooter. The sniper scoffed, "Lame…" and kept looking, but kept it in mind if he took too long.

"Unbelievable." Pepper said to himself as he walked the motorized scooter back to the two students. He checked it and it had gas. Hopefully, it would keep up with the motorcycle that Takashi and Rei were going to use. He reached them and shook his head, "This is all I could find." Takashi and Rei looked around, "Yeah, I guess a car would be too big, huh?" Pepper nodded, "Exactly. Let's go."

After driving for about two hours, barely any zombies were seen. The roads were clear and, surprisingly, the scooter was keeping up with the motorcycle. Night had come, the sky was enveloped by a pitch black and an eeriness filled the air. They stopped on a road that overlooked a portion of the city. The undead filled the streets below as well as abandoned cars and buildings. Takashi, Rei, and Pepper stopped. The boy asked the soldier, "Hey, we saw a few helicopters earlier, was that you guys?"

"No. We're the first from America to be deployed here." Pepper informed as he looked out onto the streets.

"I see…" Takashi said, he looked back to Pepper, "What's the plan for after we reach Takagi's house?"

"Best case scenario, everyone gets there in one piece and we leave you guys there. Once we do that, we hunt down the person who did this and see if we can't get an antidote or something to help the people that have been bitten, but not turned fully. Once the agent kills them, they are clinically dead."

Undead began to formulate behind them. Rei finalized, "We should go." Pepper and Takashi agreed. "Yeah," the soldier said, "We'll need gas soon, though."

The drove off, leaving the undead to do nothing but chase the sounds of their engines. Eventually, they reached the city and found that the streets were, again, empty. Perhaps the zombies were following the sound of something else? It did not matter, for the time being, they were safe.

They saw red and blue lights flashing in the distance, coming from an intersection ahead. "Let's check that out. Maybe they can help." They gave their bikes a little gas and were over there in no time. It was for naught, however; the driver was dead. His car was crushed by a garbage truck. The lights were just on from the time he was alive. "Damn." Pepper said as he got off his scooter and held his submachine gun. He kept it aimed at the driver's seat. "Stay behind me." He ordered. They did as he said. He opened the door by pulling the handle and throwing it open. He trained his submachine gun on the driver and kicked his hand hanging at his side. "Okay, he's dead." The sniper held his weapon on his shoulder, so that the barrel pointed upward. He tapped the side of his glasses, activating his magnetic vision and found that there was no movement around him. "We're clear." He informed the survivors behind him as he turned to look at them. As he was turning, he saw something highlighted in the dead officer's side. A small, snub-nose revolver was still on him. Pepper reached into the car, still weary that the corpse may come alive, zipped right back out. He held the revolver and examined it. Opening the chamber, it seemed to have five bullets. "Hey, you guys want this?" He looked to his submachine gun and rifle. "I'm all set." Takashi held out his hand, "Sure." The sniper reeled his arm back to him, "You know how to use it?"

"Well, yeah… You just point and shoot. How hard can it be? I've seen movies." Takashi reasoned, looking at the revolver.

"It's pretty hard if you haven't used one before and nothing like the movies." Pepper informed. The boy had a nervous look in his eye.

Pepper allowed his submachine gun to hang at his side and turned so he stood parallel to the students. "I'll show you how." He handed the gun to Takashi, "Alright, look." He pointed to the iron sights on the gun. It had one alignment sight at the end of the barrel, and two at the back, just above the hammer. "See now, you're going to want to aim this at the enemy," he said pointing to the front sight, "and make sure these are aligned with it." He finished, pointing to the two at above the barrel. "Get it? Try aiming at the rear-view mirror of the car." Pepper said, stepping away from him. Takashi held it in his hands, "Hm," he said, "It's little heavier than I thought." He aimed at the rear-view mirror, but the front of the barrel dipped, and he had to regain his composure. "You'll get used to it." He turned to Rei, "You want to try?" She held her hands up, "No thanks, I'm alright. My father is a police officer. He taught me when I was young." Pepper nodded, "Nice. Hopefully, we can find him." Her eyes saddened slightly, "Yes, let's hope." She turned around and walked back to the officer's patrol car. She reached in and grabbed his partner's pistol of the same kind. "Here." She said with her palm open. Takashi grabbed what she was giving him and held up five more bullets. "His gun wasn't in working condition." She informed. With that they were underway again, the zombies coming out of the surrounding stores and alleyways that surrounded them.

They stopped at a gas station and approached with the intention of filling gas, however, they ran into another problem. "… You guys don't have _any_ cash on you?" The soldier asked, bewildered. "I bought a juice box earlier, I only have about 30 yen left." Takashi said. He turned and held his hand out to Rei. "What?" she asked impatiently. "I need to borrow some cash, you have any?" Pepper began walking away to the left of the gas station. "I'm going to secure the perimeter. Search to store for some money, be careful. If anything happens, call for me." With that, he disappeared into the shadows, Vector in hand.

Rei was standing alone. "Scream if anything happens. I'm going to search the store." Takashi said with a half-hearted wave. The girl was alone in the middle of the gas station with nothing but a broken mop handle now. She sighed as she leaned up against the gas pump. A noise from the gas station could be heard; the sound of the cash register being smash, and the money being taken. "Someone's having fun." She muttered to herself. Unbeknownst to her, she was being stalked. Out of the shadows, someone grabbed her, and she let out a shriek. A muffled, "Rei?!" came from inside the store. Pepper peered around the corner and saw what had happened. He cursed as he saw Rei being held at knife-point by big, burly man. He was not a terribly tall man. He had a white do-rag on the top of his head. The gold chains around his neck contrasted with the black shirt T-shirt he wore. He turned and faced Takashi as he bolted out of the store. His front was facing the store; Pepper decided to sneak up behind him and get him. He stepped into the shadows again.

"Sweet girl you got here, bro." He said in English with a painfully American accent.

"Let her go!" Takashi ordered.

"Like hell, I'm not stupid." His arm moved across her waist and reached her chest where his arm brushed against her breasts. "I need me a woman if I'm going to survive in this world." He said with a devilish smile that would rival Shido's. Takashi noticed a look in his eyes. He had seen it when he saw some of the students in the school; hopelessness, tragedy, a lack of morals.

"Are you… insane?" He asked. The man laughed.

"Of course, I am!" He shouted. "I saw my entire family turn into those things… I had to smash their heads. My mother, father, little brother, grandfather… even my little sister and she was still in grade school. How the hell could I stay sane after that?!" He said looking upwards and laughing hysterically. Rei managed to free herself but was grabbed again, this time he was openly groping her. She was beginning to cry and call out to her friend. "Takashi!" he took a step forward only to be stopped by the man's voice.

"Don't you dare try anything! Toss me that bat. Also, fill up the bike. I'm taking it." He said, while still touching the girl.

Takashi obliged, tossing over the bike and went to refill the bike. _Where is Pepper?_ He thought to himself. He finished and tried to reason with the man. "Can you just-?"

"Shut it." He motioned with the knife. "Go on, get out of here. I'm taking the bike _and_ the girl." Takashi notice small shimmer behind the man. What was it? It was like the light was present… but not hitting the ground. He decided to buy some more time.

"Look, we were just on the way to see if our parents were alright."

"Idiot! If they were in town, then their fate is the same as my parents. Now go! Do you want me to-" his speech was cut short as his head burst open and chunks of blood and gore, splattered just over Rei's head onto the wall of the gas station. He fell to reveal Pepper, fading in from nothing. He exhaled. "Sorry that took so long, you alright?" He asked Rei. "Yes, I'm fine. Thank you." She said with a kind smile. Bewilderment took Takashi's face. "How did you do that?" Pepper took notice that Takashi was looking at his body, "It's an exo-suit, it allows us to reflect the environment around us, effectively making us-"

"Invisible?" Takashi finished. Pepper shook his head.

"Only at a glance. It's not perfect, you saw me after all."

They looked at the corpse on the ground and then to the surrounding area. "Alright, I'll fill up the gas in my scooter, you stay on yours just in case." They nodded and obliged. While the sniper refilled his motorized scooter, the undead approached, but did not get close enough to become an issue.

Soon enough, the sun was rising and soon they were underway again.


	5. Reunion

**Chapter 4 – Reunion**

As they rode through the town, loudspeakers could be heard even through the bus windows. Ghost Lead, 30K, and Kozak were all sitting in the front with those who were not onboard with Shido's revolutionary regime. He has been talking for about staying strong and about how they have no need for people who would not submit to him. Of course, he had made allusions to the soldiers as being an unwanted third party between student and teacher. The pre-Shido group gathered at the front and discussed a plan. Takagi and Saeko glared at Shido as he continued to speak to the students. "He almost looks like a recruiter for a cult."

"Almost? That's exactly what he's doing. Look at all the people buying into his crap."

The rest of the group looked to the back and saw the joy-filled faces of the students. Each one of them looked absolutely delighted. Ghost Lead shook his head and 30K just chuckled. "Can't believe this shit." He said. Kozak turned to his leader and warned, "This may get dangerous. We need to stop him. The way he's talking, it's like he wants us gone. If we're gone, we can't bring these people to Takagi's house." 30K agreed with him, "He's right, Cap. I say we approach them and propose that we go on foot. If they refuse, we leave them in Shido's care." Ghost Lead stood up, "Sounds like a plan." He turned around and walked to Shido. Several of the students from the back had already begun scoffing when he stood up. When he stopped at the teacher, he did not turn around. Ghost Lead cleared his throat, but the rambling went on and on. He cleared his throat louder. Nothing. He sighed and spoke in his booming voice, "Sir." Shido stopped and turned. "How can I help you, Captain?" He said with a smirk and a tone that signified that he was merely entertaining a child.

"We do not think that this is a safe place. In due time, the undead are going to catch up and the barricade will not stand a chance. We propose that we go on foot from here. If you, and your students wish to stay here, then they may. But we leave them in your care. We are no longer responsible for what happens to them, understood?"

Shido's smile faded and he looked past the Captain's left shoulder to see the rest of the students in front getting up and ready to leave. "You're all leaving? We should all work together." Takagi turned around and retaliated, rebellion on her face.

"Thanks, but no thanks, Mr. Shido. We have no reason to stay with you." Anger erupted in the back of the bus, it was not too loud, just a ripple. The faces of the students, however, held rage.

"Feel free to do as you like, Japan is the land of the free, after all… However." His eyes shifted to the school nurse in the front. "It would be problematic to lose our only medic, would it not?" The back of the bus grew louder.

He began walking towards Ghost Lead, but kept his eyes on Marikawa, "Won't you stay?" Ghost Lead held up his hand, hovering it just in front of Shido's chest. "Leave that decision to her." He turned his head to face the nurse, "Well? What'll it be, ma'am?" he asked. She straightened herself. "I will be going with you." She managed in English. "Alright!" 30K said, holding his hand up for a hi-five, which he got. The Captain turned back around, "It's settled then." He turned began walking back to the front. Everyone stood up and began filing out of the bus. When Kozak got up, he looked to the back of the bus. He saw the angry faces of all the students, but his gaze focused on the teacher. He shook his head and hopped off the bus. "Safe travels, sir" Ghost Lead said with only a hint of sincerity as he closed the bus door.

The rest of the group filed onto the street and began their trek to the police station for seven o'clock. Ghost Lead put his finger up to his right ear and pressed a small button to make contact. "Overlord, this is Hunter, we have decided to make it to the police station on foot. Traffic was bad, and our company was even worse." Mitchell answered their call.

"Copy that, Hunter. Pepper you read that?" The sniper's voice answered.

"Affirmative. We are approaching a waterfront now. We saw a bridge earlier but couldn't get across. Jam-packed. Going to try another bridge, Onbetsu I think it's called." Ghost Lead finished the conversation.

"I hear you, we're headed that way." He pulled up his map. "We'll try to get to you."

"Got it. Pepper out." he said.

Pepper lowered his hand and placed it back on the handle bar of the scooter. He had to yell over the engines. "Alright, so we are close to them. We'll try to meet up." Takashi and Rei said something, but Pepper saw a thumbs up, so he guessed that they heard. After riding for about twenty minutes, they stopped at a railing overlooking a river that turned orange in the sunset's glow and passed underneath the bridge occupied with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. The sniper peered onto the bridge, seeing only turrets and tanks blocking the way across the water. "We'll need to get to the other side if we are going to get to the police station." Pepper said. Both Takashi and Rei nodded, but the boy spoke, "Yeah, can you see anything on that map of yours?" The Ghost pulled up his map and saw three blinking dots close to his location. "Alright, we-" he stopped when he heard gunfire… no not gunfire. "That's a nail-gun!" Takashi said as if reading his companions' minds. "Go!" Pepper said as the three of them sped off in the direction the sound was coming from.

Below, closer to the water level, the group from the bus were fighting off a horde of incoming undead. Pepper stayed on the elevated ground and provided overwatch for his team and the survivors below. The familiar sound of suppressed weapons travelled up to where he was, accompanied by the odd strike of a metal baseball bat, mop handle, wooden kendo sword, and the nail-gun. Pepper pressed his earpiece and spoke into it, "Cap, I have a visual on you, I am providing sniper support Northwest of you." He saw his leader glance in his direction and then went back to shooting. "Copy that, let's do this and get moving. The nurse has a friend with an apartment around here. We'll head there now… After we deal with this." Pepper looked through the scope, "Got it." then with his eyes, "I see about fourteen left by the way." Ghost Lead smirked and went back to shooting. Saeko swung in wide arcs, knocking down about two of the undead. She twisted around, moving to the sides of them, then struck their heads in quick succession, stopping them from moving. Hirano and the Ghosts shot them, but Hirano was almost out of nails. He backed up towards Kozak. "Hey! I'm almost out of ammo, can I use your sidearm?" he asked. The soldier stopped shooting, but kept his rifle trained in the same direction. His gaze darted between Hirano and the 45T at his side, "You serious?" Hirano nodded quickly. Kozak looked at the rest of the zombies incoming. There were not that many left, probably just a handful. "There aren't too many left. Just hang tight, we'll have this place cleared soon." Hirano frowned and stayed next to the nurse.

It was not long after that that the waterfront was clear. 30K went to greet Pepper who was going down to join them. The two soldiers shook hands, the heavy gunner chuckling to himself. "Nice moped." He said as he finally bursted out in laughter, slapping his knee with one hand while keeping other over his mouth. Pepper got defensive, "Oh, shut up. It was all that was there." In between laughs 30K said, "Okay, Grandpa!" Pepper simply sighed and glanced over to the rest of his teammates. He was glad to be back.

However, the reunion was short-lived as the sun was getting lower and lower. They would need to find the nurse's friends home fast. Hopefully it was safe.


	6. Safety

**Chapter 5 – Safety**

As the sky turned black, they were nearing their destination. An extravagant two-story building on a street that had abandoned cars dotting the road. The exterior walls were of a hardwood finish, giving it a slight luster in the pale moonlight. The railings that adorned the sides were grey and stood out on the brown form of the house. It was square shaped, taking the corner spot on the block. The entrance was closed off by a wall and a gate as well as ramps that led up to them. No undead would get in, not it they were silent. There was a balcony on the second floor that curved around the building, allowing one to see the streets below; a good sniping position.

The group made their way up the metal ramp that led up to the front of the house. Pepper whispered to his comrades, "This place seems really secure. Just who the hell lives here?" Their leader whispered to him, "Doesn't matter. We can worry about that when we get inside." There was a padlock on the brown metal gate. Ghost Lead turned to the nurse and pointed to it, tilting his head slightly. She looked at it and shook her head. The Captain turned back to the lock and began inspecting it further, finding that there was a keyhole underneath. "We could just shoot it." Hirano whispered. "That would compromise our security." Pepper informed. Kozak moved to the front of the group with a few of his tools. He was the engineer after all. Ghost Lead stepped aside and allowed him to work. There was an audible click and the soldier removed the pad lock and pushed open the door.

The courtyard was clear, they used the X-Ray mode on their goggles to make sure. Nothing was there. No undead, but not even any living. "Courtyard is clear. Let's get inside and lock the gate." Kozak, who was bringing up the rear, shut the gate and locked it again, this time from the inside. It was a peculiar lock; having a slot for the padlock on both sides of the door, likely to allow it to lock when the resident is leaving or staying for the night. They turned and looked up to the building. "Looks like it's clear outside." Ghost Lead said, clicking the side of his headgear. He turned to the survivors, "We're going to make sure that the building is clear. The rest of you stay out here. If anything happens, give a shout. Understood?" They nodded and there was a murmur of agreement as the Ghosts moved into the building.

They all pushed a button on their glasses and their vison was changed into a green hue, allowing them to see in pitch darkness. Through the nightvision, they could see that inside was… polished if they had to put it in one word. It looked clean. The walls were a smooth white-cream colour, paintings of nature adorned the walls, some of them had end tables underneath them. The floor was dark hardwood and had long tiles running parallel to the length of the walls. The hallway was clear, as they could see down it with ease. "Hallway clear," Ghost Lead said, as he was on point.

They were approaching one doorway to the left that led into the bathroom. There was another opening just after the door. 30K entered the bathroom and checked it quickly, as the bathroom was quite small. It had white porcelain structures, nothing too fancy, but enough to make the one's on base shiver in jealousy. The walls were a gentle yellow tile and a bath sat in the back, clean and ready for use. "Bathroom's clear." He whispered and moved onto the kitchen.

Inside the kitchen was a counter that wrapped around the far wall and up to the fridge, which was closest to them. In the centre was a small island. The countertops were white marble, dotted with bits of silver. The cabinets, which were on the walls above the counters and underneath them, were dark wood – almost black, - with a polished finish. "Kitchen's clear." He informed. "and _very_ nice…" He finished to himself under his breath. The heavy gunner maintained his focus on the task and regrouped.

Pepper checked the next doorway, which was the living room. Two black leather couches sat around a single purple carpet in front of a television. On the far side of the room was a window that looked down into the street as well as the courtyard in front of the house. The survivors were safe. "Living room, clear." Pepper whispered as he turned to see Ghost Lead and Kozak headed upstairs.

The spiral staircase was made of metal and curled to the second floor, which was no different from the first. Very modern in design, the same colour of walls and floors. To the front, there was a bedroom, and the rest of the hallway was guest rooms and sliding doors that led to the balcony that they saw outside. The bedroom, as well as the guest rooms, were clear. The site was safe.

"All clear." Ghost Lead informed. "Get our people inside." He ordered into his communicator. 30K and Pepper looked at each other and made their way outside.

* * *

The survivors piled in and finally got some rest and relaxation, as did the soldiers. They stood in the living room and discussed sleeping patterns; who would take watch, who would be up to cover afterwards and so on. The Ghosts opted to allow their survivor compatriots to sleep the whole night. As soldiers, they were used to sleepless nights and environments. Before that though, they all removed their gear, to breathe a little easier. Kozak's helmet and mask gave way to short hair, shaved close to his head, and a small amount of stubble on his face. His blue eyes were closed for the moment but would be open once he took the rest of his heavy gear off.

Pepper took off his glasses and tuque, revealing his completely shaven head and neatly kept beard. His eyes were nearly black but to in the right light, they showed their true colour of dark brown.

30K pulled down his mask and removed his baseball cap, showing messy curly hair and a beard longer than Kozak's but less neat than Pepper. His hazel eyes were filled with relief as he took a deep breath and itched his beard, plopping down on one of the couches nearby, but just as quickly got back up as he received a look from his captain.

Ghost Lead removed his helmet and mask, revealing skin darker than the rest. His hair was black and mostly short, but small curls could still be made out. He had a neat beard on his chin and his eyes were dark brown.

Sweat beaded each of the soldiers' foreheads as their mission was long and yet to be concluded. "Okay, I'll take first watch. Ghosts, you get some shut-eye or take bathe. We might be fighting the undead, but we don't need to smell like them." They all nodded and looked at the survivors. Pepper assured them, "You guys can clean up first, we have to clean our equipment."

The women went into bathroom downstairs and started to bathe first. Pepper, 30K, and Kozak made their way into the kitchen to clean their equipment. Ghost Lead stood watch over the balcony from the bedroom, allowing for a good view of their immediate surroundings.

The other Ghosts dismantled their guns and began cleaning the intricate parts using small brushes that they all carried as part of their equipment. The barrels were laid out on the table, as were the main bodies - triggers, magazines, muzzles, and the different gas systems, and more – and the stocks. As they made small talk, about twenty minutes went by and the women were getting louder and louder. Pepper he saw Kozak and 30 looking at him. " _I'm_ not going." 30K shook his head. "Not going." Kozak as well. "Nope." 30K took notice. "Ah, kid! You were the last one to say 'no'." Kozak retaliated saying, "Don't care." Pepper shook his head.

"Real brave, guys. You can fight enemy soldiers that have the same, if not better gear than us, but you can't go tell a few girls to quiet down." Pepper stated as he got up.

"Hey, next thing you know, they open the door and see us snooping and then we get into a whole new problem. Think about it…" He shifted himself and placed his had in the air and acted as if he was reading off a headline. "'US soldier spies on high school girls!' Huh?" he said with his hands stretched out as if he made a valid point. Kozak shook his head, "Forget it, I'll go." 30 patted him on the shoulder. "Atta boy!" Kozak scoffed as he moved from his seat.

He approached the door being as quiet as possible and knocked gently. Not loud enough. He knocked again, this time louder. Her hear a muffled, "Who is it?" from the inside. "Hey, guys, it's me just letting you know that you should keep it down in there." He said, his face nearly touching the door. "Hello?" He heard more laughing and knocked again. "You guys hear me?"

"Who is 'me?'" He heard from the inside.

"Me- the solider…" Kozak said as he was losing patience slightly.

"You got a name, soldier?"

"John Kozak."

"What kind of name is that? Kochak." 'Kochak' shut his eyes and repeated his name.

"Kozak. And it's Russian." He said.

"I thought you were American!"

"I am, but I'm part-" then it dawned on him what was happening. He cleared his throat. "Are you drinking in there?"

"Maybe~" the voice said.

He heard a "Rei put that down!" from the nurse and began telling her about how it was unsafe for teenagers to drink so frivolously. "Just keep it down, okay?" he said, only to receive a "We will." From a more composed voice, which probably belonged to Saeko. "Thanks." He went back to his seat and started to clean his equipment once more.

Another ten minutes went by and Pepper and 30K were finished cleaning their gear – Kozak had to catch up for time lost, despite only being a little while. Kozak saw the nurse – dressed in nothing but a towel – wobble out of the bathroom and had begun to slowly make her way up the stairs. He tapped 30K who had his cap pulled over his eyes and was getting a little bit of rest in. "Hm? What?" he said groggily. Kozak pointed to the nurse and said. "I think they're drunk…"

"What make you say-" He began as he followed his comrades finger. "Well shit." 30 said quietly. Pepper looked as well and sighed. Kozak raised his hands and looked down at his equipment, "Well, I've got to finish here, you guys try to fix that!" He said with a hint of happiness that he still had the final touches on his equipment. The other two soldiers sighed and got up from their seats, "You owe us one." 30K said.

"I checked the door. We're even." Kozak stated, without removing his gaze from the dismantled weapon.

Pepper was already walking to the nurse. "Hey, nurse?" She didn't hear him.

It was going to be a long night.


	7. Long Night

**Hey guys! Sorry this took so long, but I've just been too focused on my other stories.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 6 – Long Night**

Once Kozak had finished cleaning his equipment, he went to the couch to get some sleep only to find Takagi already sleeping on it. Sighing he went upstairs and found the nurse being carried down by Pepper. She had passed out. Keeping his voice low, he asked, "What happened?" Pepper simply said. "Drunk." And kept making his way down the stairs.

Kozak went upstairs into bedroom and saw the floor littered with guns and ammunition. "What the hell?" He said as he looked at the military-grade weapons sprawled out on the floor. One was a held by Hirano, who seemed to be in his happy place, a twisted grin on his face. He was holding a single-shot rifle, an M4 Carbine, by the looks of it, with a scope on top, allowing for long distance fighting. Not for the hands of a civilian. He walked up to Hirano and took the gun by the barrel. "Wha-Hey!" he protested fought back, trying to gain a better grasp on the weapon. "These are not for civilian use. Either Ms. Shizuka's friend is a terrorist or a high-ranking military officer." Hirano looked at Kozak with a longing in his eyes. "… _You're_ a civilian, Kohta."

"And?"

"You can't use this weapon."

"Aw, come on! You saw me handle myself with the undead with a _nailgun_! Think about what I can do with this!"

"Oh, I'm thinking about it. Don't you worry." He said bluntly as he took the weapon.

He sulked and huddled in a corner. Kozak exhaled and looked at the other boy. "Takashi same goes for you." He said holding out his hand in an open palm. "Understood." He said as he handed it over and went out into the hall. Looking at the firearm he gave him, Kozak saw that it was a standard pump shotgun, the actual pump itself, as well as the arm-stock was brown in colour, but the rest of the gun was a cool steel. The sliding door opened, and Ghost Lead poked his head in. He saw the scattered weaponry on the floor and sighed. "Everything under control?"

"Yeah, everything's fine." His gaze went back down to the guns. "Where the hell did her friend get this stuff?"

"No idea. But we're leaving it here. We can't go around looting people's houses."

"True. But the ammo might be useful…" The half-Russian said, raising his eyebrows. Ghost Lead shot him a look and kept the stare going. Kozak held up his free hand, "Only joking."

"Mhm." His leader said as he closed the door.

The engineer placed the guns back in the locker and attempted to close it, only to find that the door was inoperable; the metal was pulled back with such force that it was not able to close anymore. Kozak went to a find a guest room. As he did, he passed 30K. "Gonna get some sleep?"

"You know it." Kozak said as he opened a door and closed it.

30K was now in the hall alone when he smelled food. His stomach reacted to it as, unbeknownst to him, he was hungry. Scampering downstairs, the smell was emanating from the kitchen. Who was cooking? He rounded the corner to see Saeko Bushijima, whom he was happy to see… until he looked down. On her body was nothing by black undergarments and an apron, leaving her backside open. The heavy-gunner nearly shrieked but quickly regained his composure before she looked at him. "Hello."

"Uh huh…" He said as he rubbed his chin.

"What?"

"Nothin', just… Maybe you should…" He waved his hands between pauses. "You know… cover yourself."

"Oh, why? My clothes washing and there is nothing else to wear."

"I'll find you something." He dispelled the conversation and ran upstairs, past Pepper asked him what was wrong. 30K just muttered "Naked." As he ran past him.

The soldier began rummaging through armoires and wardrobes. A lot of it was formal wear, ranging from dresses to formal military wear. Finally, in a door on the right of one wardrobe had one. Out of the five shelves, there was only one with a simple grey sweater and the one below it had sweatpants of the same colour. He grabbed them both and ran back downstairs.

Holding it towards her, he said "Here." keeping his gaze on her eyes. Or the ceiling. Or the floor. Anywhere but her body, really. 30 had to admit, she was… well-kept. Likely from her training with the wooden sword, her body was in near-peak condition. She took it and said, "Thank you." with a bow. "If you are uncomfortable, then you could just say so." She said playfully. "Hey, hey, it's not _me_ who's uncomfortable…"

"Who then?" She challenged, the grin still on her face.

"It's Kozak." He said off the top of his head. Saeko chuckled even though she knew he was lying.

"I'll be sure to apologize to _Kozak_ , then." She said turning around.

"Alright, cool." He blurted as he averted his gaze from her rear.

Exhaling, he placed his hands on his hips and walked back upstairs to swap shifts with his leader. He slid the glass door open and poked his head out. "Cap, you want to switch?" Ghost Lead turned to face him,

"You sleep?"

"Cleaned my gun, I'll sleep later." He said as he stepped through the door, "Pepper will take over, then I'll sleep. Right now, he's watching the living room, where everyone decided to sleep."

"Understood, I'll let Pepper sleep if you'll watch my post."

"Sure thing."

Ghost Lead disappeared behind the glass door and 30K was left to himself.

* * *

The next few hours passed without issue, until Ghost Lead heard Takashi yelling. He approached and tried to quiet him down. "Calm down."

"She keeps on bringing up Hisashi!"

"Alright," He pulled him aside, away from Rei. "Who's Hisashi?"

"Her boyfriend, but he already died. There is no reason to bring it up!"

"Takashi, this is no time to be worried about that. Look at her." Ghost Lead turned his head to look at her, the boy fallowing suit. What they saw was a crying girl, her face buried in her knees as she was curled into a ball. "She's hurting right now. Leave her be. Firstly, maybe this is her way of grieving. Everyone does it differently." Ghost Lead began walking towards her.

"And secondly?" Takashi asked, calmer and more composed than before.

"She's drunk." The captain whispered to him with a shrug.

He approached her and knelt on one knee, leaving his rifle on the floor. "You alright?" She just sniffled and turned her head away from him. "Look, I'm sure Takashi is just tired and needs some rest. People can get irritated very easily when they're tired."

"So? He shouldn't be talking about him like that." She faced him now, the slight slur in her words audible, "He was Hisashi's best friend." Rei looked back at her knees and placed her head on them again.

"These are trying times." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "But me and my team going to make sure all of you get to safety, okay?" Rei said nothing and nodded. Given her current state of mind, that was enough. Ghost Lead stood up. "How about you two get some sleep?" He proposed. Takashi and Rei nodded, the former helping up the latter. With that, they both went into the living room and silence took the house once more.

About fifteen minutes passed and Saeko emerged from the kitchen, "The food is ready, sir. If you want to eat, it will be in the kitchen." She said with a smile, "I appreciate it, but I'm not that hungry right now. How about you get some rest." Nodding, she walked back towards the kitchen. "I will, but I am going to clean up first." Ghost Lead looked back to the survivors sleeping and said, "Alright." Save for the slight snoring of the students, it was all quiet. Not a single noise could be heard.

Until a familiar noise of a gunshot was heard. Ghost Lead's earpiece was filled with 30K's voice. "Possible situation, on me." The captain made his way up the stairs and heard noise from Kozak's room as well as Pepper's room upstairs. Ghost Lead was the first to reach the heavy gunner. He explained as they both looked at the situation transpiring just down the street. There was a man with a shotgun in the streets, about to be overcome by the undead. He tried to reload but looked up and lost all hope. Three zombies lunged at him and he was thrown to the floor screaming. "Shit." 30K cursed. Pepper came from where the balcony rounded outside the house. "What's happening?" He said as he crouched down. Using his scope, he looked down the road. He saw people being eaten and torn apart. Their faces permanently drawn with expressions of terror and fear. There was a man pounding on a door and begging to be let into a house, a small army of undead behind him. As expected, he was dragged down by the zombies and taken apart. "It's gone to shit down there." Pepper turned his head to the dark room behind them. "We need to keep the lights off. It'll bring people, and the people will bring them. Plus, it's not going to be possible to stay here forever and we can't move quickly in a group larger than what we have already."

"Pepper's right. We'll help who we can." he said looking down to the cluster of zombies, "Some people are beyond our help." Just then everyone's gaze went to the street below and peered closer, but still quite far. There was a man running with a little girl presumably his daughter. Light, greying hair sat atop his head. The man wore a white dress shirt with brown pants that suspenders crossing his body and looping around to his shoulders meeting with each other on his back. A wrench was in one hand, and his daughter's hand in the other. His daughter had hot pink hair, matching her eyes. She wore a light pink dress and a thin white spring jacket that ended at her waist. As he closed the gate, she asked him something and he crouched down to comfort her. He pulled her by the hand and walked towards the door. Kozak activated his magnetic visor to see if he could make out any weapons. The lights were on and shadows could be seen in the windows. With the visor active, he could make out makeshift weapons. "It's not safe for them." Thinking logically, 30K turned on his heel and sprinted down the stairs, his loud footsteps waking up the sleeping survivors. "Take the bike!" Saeko said to him as he passed.

Throwing open the door, he opened the gate and ran to the motorcycle. It was a simple orange bike. The engine started with a roar as Pepper silently cleared the way. Picking off the zombies with precise shots. As he came up to the house's gate, he jumped off the bike and allowed the loud engine to get the undead away. Thankfully, zombies are stupid. He turned to face them. The father was banging on the door and begging loudly.

30K, keeping his voice low, called to them in Japanese. "Sir!" He said. The man turned to see him and instinctively put his daughter behind him and raised the wrench. 30 motioned that they follow when the door opened and a metal pole with a knife taped to it was thrusted out. If the man had been facing the door, no doubt it would have pierced his heart. "Put down your weapon!" 30K nearly yelled. The man holding it had fear in his eyes and still kept it pointed forward as it shook. The people behind him were no different. "Please, just leave." He begged, tears in his eyes. "I don't want to hurt anyone, just go!" He yelled. The man backed away and brought his daughter with him. "Come with me." 30K said as he still pointed his gun at the door. As the father and daughter made their way over, the door had finally slammed shut and the soldier lowered his gun.

More calm now, 30K looked around. There were undead closing in on their position. They needed to move. The soldier motioned them to follow and trained his weapon on the gate. Kozak disappeared from the balcony to be ready to open the door. The street was getting more crowded with zombies. "Stay low and close to me, okay?" He whispered, still speaking Japanese. The man looked to his shoulder patch and saw the American flag. "You're American?" He asked in perfect English. 30 nodded and answered back in the same language. "We can talk when we get back. We're held up in that house. It's safe." He said pointing to the house, down the road. Pepper kept overwatch and Ghost Lead was inside, presumably keeping everyone calm. "Move." 30K said. "Stay close, sweetie." The man said to the girl. It did not become noticeable until now, but the girl had a small white dog with her. "Keep him quiet, okay?"

A sniper shot killed one zombie closest to the gate. "Get your ass in gear, 30." Pepper warned. "Got damn near fifty undead on the road. Be careful, I'll try to draw them away somehow. You got any smoke grenades on you?"

"Three, why?"

"They make a little bit of noise. Throw them as far away from you as you can and distract the zombies."

"I hear ya, I'm moving."

With that, they began scurrying their way up the road. They managed to remain mainly quiet, the father's footsteps following 30K's and in turn, the daughter following the father's. There was a large cluster of zombies in front of them now and one by one, the right side was being taken down by Pepper. The heavy gunner reached a pouch on his side and pulled out a smoke grenade and ripped off the pin and gave it a toss to the left, into some dark alleyway. With the sound of a metal hitting stone, only a few zombies were first attracted to it, but when the gas began coming out with a hiss, more were beginning to follow the noise. Normally, such a grenade would be quiet, but right now, it was deafening. The path had opened. Motioning his hand forward, 30K took the lead as one zombie became more interested in them, coming from the right. 30K allowed his suppressed Goblin to shoot a single shot at the thing's head. As it fell, 30K moved faster as he heard the shell casing hit the ground, creating the smallest bit of noise. "Almost there." He whispered both into his earpiece and his companions. More zombies stood in their way, but they were seemingly unnoticed by them.

30K looked around and he could see Pepper looked down at him. They were close now. "Got an idea. Get as close to the wall to your right as you can. Crouch down and go on your back, keep them behind you." Pepper said. He aimed his rifle and took a shot at a car parked in an abandoned home. The door was left wide open. The car came to life as the alarm was blaring and getting the attention of every zombie on the street. The undead in front of them began walking slowly towards the noise. With groans and moans of death, they moved. 30 kept his rifle trained on the one closest to them. Just in case. The zombie seemed to slow his pace as he passed them. 30K was aiming at it's head as was Pepper. Ultimately, it's attention was taken by the noise of the car alarm and went towards it. There was now an open path to the house, as Kozak stood there, rifle in-hand. They were only about two houses away now and the area was generally clear thanks to Kozak and Pepper. They filled inside and Kozak closed the door.

All breathed a sigh of relief. "You alright?" Kozak said, but in more of a tone that was closer to scolding and that what he did was stupid. "I'm all good, kid." He said breathing heavily. They both turned to the father and daughter, both overjoyed that they were safe. Pepper made his way down the stairs as Ghost Lead and the survivors made their way to the front area to see the new people. "30." Their captain said, "Can I talk to you?" he said, with authority. "Yes, sir." 30K said. As he came up beside him, Ghost Lead whispered. "You know what you did was stupid, right?"

"I know, but I wasn't about to leave them." He gestured to the father and daughter. "They might have been killed by the people in that house they went to."

"That may be true, but James," he placed his hand on his shoulder, "Please remember that we work as a team. One unit, all together." 30K shifted his feet, looking to the sides and down, but his eyes went back to his captain.

"All due respect, sir, this felt like a one-man job." He reasoned. Ghost Lead tilted his head but nodded as he was beginning to see where he was coming from. "All of us would have been too risky. To leave the students behind and we would have had more of a mass to worry about." He shrugged. "Plus, I wasn't alone." 30K pointed to Pepper and Kozak. "I had them covering me." Ghost Lead nodded and began walking away, "Alright. As long my warning is heeded." He said pointing to him and walking back to the father and daughter.

Pepper walked up to him and stopped at his side. "Don't do that shit again." 30K chuckled. "I won't." The sniper gave a light punch in the left shoulder and walked towards the two new survivors.


	8. On the Move Again

**Yep, I'm not dead :D In all seriousness, sorry this chapter took so long to upload. Things have been a little crazy irl.**

 **Chapter 7 – On the Move Again**

"We can't stay here for much longer." Takagi bluntly stated. "They're going to gather on this street because of the noise you made." She continued pointing at Pepper, who just shrugged. "She's right. How loud that car alarm is, we need to get out of here." Ghost Lead turned around to face the group. "Okay, everyone, get ready! We are moving soon. Gather any weapons, clothing – anything of value." Kozak was about to go upstairs and saw Hirano already holding the firearms and coming down the stairs. _All_ of them. "Can I keep them?" He said with hope in his eyes. Kozak turned around and saw everyone in a blur of movement. There was not time to dawdle. He turned back to him and begrudgingly said "… Sure." Hirano nearly squealed and grinned with near-insanity. Kozak noticed this and warned, "Just understand, you will fire when we give the order, understood? No guns-blazing nonsense." He said pointing to the white band now wrapped around his head, likely reminiscent of a well-renown action hero. The student nodded quickly and went to the rest of his friends.

Over the next ten minutes, they gathered all necessary supplies that would prove useful and bolted out the front door and went to the nearby garage. Kozak was in front and covered the front gate, where it would open to the road. He stopped at the left and Pepper did the same on the right. 30K opened it from the inside to reveal a large Humvee M1025 – like all of the other things in the house – military grade. "Oh," He said as he slapped his hand on the back of it. "Me like-y." Ghost Lead turned the corner and saw the vehicle. "Everyone get in. Quickly." He ordered. The nurse came stumbling out of the house, literally dressed in nothing, apparently, she was still waking up. Ghost Lead did not care as he just waved her through, viewing the matter at hand much more dangerous than it was awkward. Kozak warned. "They're getting closer." Pepper and 30K entered the vehicle and climbed in the front seats. 30K was in the driver side as the Humvee was American made. First in the back was Takagi, then the nurse – still naked -, then Rei and Takashi, followed by Hirano and the new additions to their group. Kozak's hand was on the gate at the end of the driveway, ready to pull the lock off so they could get out of there. The zombies and their roars were getting closer by the second. "Say when." He said into his earpiece. 30K looked over his shoulder and counted heads. Ghost Lead was the final one inside, keeping the door open for their engineer. 30K turned his head and said, "Open sesame." as he exhaled.

Throwing open the gates, Kozak broke into a short sprint as the engine went from a steady hum to a roar and he threw himself into the Humvee. As the wheels spun to life, they were off. Through instinct, 30K turned right and then asked. "We know where we're going?" Ghost Lead answered by telling him, "Just get close to Takagi's house. For now, just get us out of here."

"Yes, sir!" He said as the truck slammed into the cluster of zombies in front of them.

There were not as many of them as they had anticipated, but still a lot nonetheless. In the back, Kozak found that he had jumped a little too far inward and actually ended up going right over his leader, landing on the hard metal floor. He was now laying face up and tilted his head to face the survivors behind him. "Everyone ok?" He asked. Through a few nods and murmurs, he gathered that everyone was alright. Then he turned his head to the left slightly and noticed the nurse was wearing nothing. He quickly averted his gaze. "Um, anyone got a shirt or something that Ms. Shizuka can wear?" He said. He heard Hirano and Takashi audibly jump and then the ruffling of a bag. "Here, wear this." Rei said. The next few minutes were silent as Kozak stood up and took in his surroundings. Now, they were on the run and virtually had nowhere to go. Hopefully, this vehicle would prove useful and take them straight to the manor. To his right were the father and daughter that 30K had saved. To his left was Ghost Lead who kept his gun trained at the window, just in case. Behind the captain was the nurse and Takagi. Directly behind Kozak was Rei and Saeko and finally to the right of them was Takashi and Hirano. They were very crammed. Kozak noticed a small step that could be used to looked out of the top hole that a gunner could be attached to on the roof of the vehicle. "Someone come in this spot, I'll be up top."

After Kozak's upper body disappeared above the Humvee, Takagi gave a loud slap to the back of Hirano's head. "Hey, you get over there. You're already taking up _so_ much room!" Without saying much, he simply shuffled towards the spot. It was difficult because the vehicle shifted in the bumps in the road and the collision with zombies.

At the top, the wind was blowing in Kozak's face as he was firing his rifle at the few zombies that managed to grab onto the vehicle. Due to the speed of the Humvee, which was slowed quite a bit by the sheer amount of zombies that were mowed down by the front it, it was relatively easy for the undead to grab onto the side, whether it be a handle on the side of the vehicle or a lucky grasp of the door.

Below, Ghost Lead brought his left hand into his ear. "Overlord, this is Hunter. We are on the move, the house we found too hot and we had to leave. We are currently headed in the direction of the Takagi estate." Mitchell answered.

"Copy that, Hunter. Let us know if anything else happens."

"Understood. Hunter out."

Hirano had finally, he reached the spot he was going for and sat down. Ghost Lead looked at the small armory that was in his arms. "Please tell me you know how to use at least one of those." He smiled again. "Oh, yes I do!" He scrambled and took one in his hands a large sniper rifle. "This is a M1A1 Springfield sniper rifle!" He began caressing it. "This gun has been modified to shoot semi-automatically, which I can see the reasoning behind because if it was fully automatic, then it would throw the user off balance. Lovely craftsmanship, created in the US and sent over here, likely." He placed his hand on the foregrip that sat on the barrel. "This can help with stabilizing shots, but I'm sure you knew about that… Anyway, there is an M14 cheek rest on it that allows for comfort when shooting. It's amazing!" Ghost Lead just raised an eye brow. "How do you know so much about military grade weaponry?" Hirano was about to explained when suddenly the Humvee picked up speed and the sound of zombies hitting the windshield had come to a halt. 30K turned his head, "Cap, we're just getting out of the thicket of them. Should be smoother sailing now."

"Roger that, 30. Keep your eyes on the road. Kozak, Pepper, and I will keep an eye out for any routes or shortcuts that we could take to the residence."

"Understood, boss." The heavy-gunner said with a nod.

The captain turned back to Hirano who waited for them to finish their exchange. "Sorry about that, continue." Kohta inhaled and began explaining.

"I trained with someone in America! With a private military academy for a whole month." An impressive tone was taken by Ghost Lead.

"Well, I didn't know you were trained. That may change a few things." A look of hope and happiness filled Kohta's face, along with a nigh sinister grin. The soldier caught on. " _But_ , to use the guns in our presence means that we allowed it. Therefore, we need to do so through legal means." He turned towards him a little and sat forward.

"Of course, I understand." Hirano said. He further explained, "It's quite a long procedure to get a gun licence here. I did some reading on it, you need to have owned a shotgun for a certain number of years… So obviously, no, I don't have one." Ghost Lead frowned.

"Then we can't have you using with firearms. It would be arming a civilian on our part and then if something happened, we would be held accountable and our mission would likely be terminated legally."

Hirano looked disappointed and sad and, as a result, lowered his head. "Well, that's too bad…"

"However, these are desperate times, and seeing as how you have training, I will allow it. If it's to ensure survival, I will." Just like that, Hirano erupted with excitement, but kept it contained. "Thank you so much!"

He inched towards Ghost Lead to hug him but was stopped when Takagi took issue with Ghost Lead. "I don't understand. The world is practically ending. Why should we even care about the rules anymore?" The soldier paused and sighed as he thought. He rubbed his chin and offered some words of wisdom that his time in the military had taught him.

"If we lose these rules, we lose society. Right now, there is no one upholding any rules." He gestured outside the windows.

"Yes, I know that, but society has basically fallen already, so what does it matter?"

"The fact that we're here means that it has not. The more things get out of control, the more needs to be done to fix it. We make sure that this doesn't get any worse." Saya nodded her head but had the look on her face that she did not completely buy-in to what he said.

"Alright." She said just to end the conversation.

Kozak came down and gave a heavy sigh, falling in next to Kohta. Who began hastily explaining some of the guns to him. The half-Russian soldier simply nodded and gave a few implications that he understood. It was a one-sided conversation.

About five minutes passed and, in that time, Takagi gave all of the soldiers a once-over on their equipment, the technological advancement of their gear and the even their tactics. Despite having only seen a small amount, she knew that they went beyond mere regular military services. She surmised that these were special forces. "What are you guys, anyway? Special forces?"

Ghost Lead turned around. "That's… classified."

"I knew it you're special forces!" she said pointing a finger. Kozak shrugged.

"If that's what you want to call it, sure, we're special forces."

"If you're not, then what are you?" She asked, her question directed to him.

"We're the ones people call when they need a situation quelled. Quick and quiet." He sat back. "We're the scalpel, not the sword. That's all I'm telling you."

Looking a little more satisfied, now, Takagi laid back and rested her head against the cushioned seat. Ghost Lead turned to face the father and daughter to his right. "Doing okay, sir?" The man he addressed turned his head and nodded. "Yes, yes. We're both okay." He said as he pulled his daughter closer. "Thank you so much for saving us! If you hadn't come along…" He did not finish the sentence. Still, it warmed the Ghost and brought a smile to his lips. "Not a problem. We're going to get you to a safe place and make sure all the scary things go away, okay?" he said as he looked to the little girl with the last statement. She nodded quickly.

"What's your name?" He asked her.

"I'm Alice and this is my papa!" The girl said. The father extended a hand to Ghost Lead. "I'm Daisuke Maresato." Ghost Lead shook it and also introduced himself. "Cedric Ferguson." From then on, small talk had begun amongst the group. Maresato used to be a news reporter and his wife was currently missing – at least that is what he told everyone in front of his daughter, but by the look in his eyes, it was not difficult to tell that she had fallen victim to the undead. Alice was only seven years old and enjoyed colouring. Kohta was still talking Kozak's – and anyone else around's – ear off about the weapons that he had obtained in the apartment.

Until sunrise, everyone except 30K drifted in and out of consciousness. At one point, they stopped and 30K and Pepper to switch places, allowing the former to take a rest. This went on until they came to a block where they had only seen a few zombies, then, on the next one, none. While the sun was reaching high in the now blue sky, they came across a bridge that would need to be crossed. Even at this distance, which was roughly seventy metres away, Pepper could tell that the bridge was backed up by vehicles left to rot, blocking anyway through.

The sniper stopped the car and turned the engine off for the sake of silence. He put his right hand on the back of the passenger headrest and turned his head. "Alright, we need to get across the bridge, but it looked abandoned and crowded. I don't like the idea, but we may have to leave the Humvee and go on foot." 30K came to consciousness and saw that they were stopped. "What's goin' on?" He asked, groggily. Pepper told him that they may have to leave the truck. He rubbed the back of his head and looked as if a wild idea occurred to him. "Hear me out, guys." Everyone leaned forward as he started. "How about we start building a-" Kozak cut him off. "Wait. These things are built to withstand a good amount of water." He pointed forward. "How deep is that river?" Daisuke leaned to his left and allowed a clearer view of the river. "That shouldn't be very deep at all. Children play there sometimes." He turned to 30K, "Unless that interferes with your plan…?" 30K waved his hand. "Nope. All good here." Pepper shot him a look. "What was your plan?" The heavy gunner shuffled in his seat and sheepishly said, "Build a ramp…" Pepper audibly rolled his eyes and 30 tried to save himself by saying, "Or a bridge… of course."

"Let's go." He said as he pushed the key into the ignition and pressed down on the gas pedal.

As they neared the riverbank, there was a breathless moment as the sides of the Humvee became submerged in the water. Everyone gave a sigh of relief as the wheels touched the ground beneath the surface without issue. Kozak gave himself a mental pat on the back for the idea. Being the team's engineer had it's perks. Alice inhaled sharply and began singing _Row, row, row your boat_ as they went across. It was a short trip, but still about forty metres across. Nonetheless, Alice's singing warmed all occupants in the vehicle.

Reaching the other side, the Humvee tore through the water and landed comfortably on the grass that laid on the other side. As the sun glistened off the dark green exterior, the water dripped from the front grill to the greenery below. Everyone began filing out of the vehicle, the Ghosts went first to ensure that the coast was clear. In a half-circle formation, they all aimed their weapons at possible ambush points. "Fan out." Ghost Lead whispered. They did as he ordered and walked in their respective directions. Both Kozak and Pepper were in the front and made their way up the hill. Ghost Lead and 30K scouted the sides along the wet pavement, the bridge underneath. Using the magnetic visor, not a single life form could be seen. Not any of the undead, not any living. Perhaps this part of the city was untouched?

Pepper and Kozak came up to see a completely empty road, the same as they glared deeper into the city. The sniper used his scope and still saw no movement whatsoever. "Nothing here… The hell's going on?" Kozak shrugged. "Don't know." He put his hand up to his ear. "All clear up here." Ghost Lead repeated the same into his comms and they all returned to the Humvee on the pavement below.

"No one's up there. This part of the city seems clear. Let's get the Humvee up there and we'll make our way to the Takagi residence." Ghost Lead said as everyone was now ready. The girls had changed their clothes and looked more battle-ready. They all had changed from their pajamas into their now clean school uniforms, fit with knee and elbow pads to help their combat. Overall, they looked safer. Which was good. Takagi tried to hide her smile, but it still peeked through. Like any child, she felt immense happiness at the thought of her parents being safe and sound. "Everybody in." Ghost Lead said as he held open the door. As all piled in, Pepper kept his rifle at the ready as he stayed in the open hatch keeping watch. It was a bumpy ride, but they made it up in one piece. A bit more noise was made than what they had hoped for, however, it made no difference as they were greeted with a visual that contrasted with the side of the city they had left.

As silence settled, the clean buildings and roads gave way to a relatively easy path. Safer now, everyone sat in silence still ready for any threat that approached.

* * *

 **Hey all. I know it has been a while and some of you might be wondering where the next chapter is, as such I have decided to make an announcement. Due to my dwindling motivation to write this story, I have decided to put it on a hiatus (I do not know how long) and come back to it when I get the chance.**


End file.
